Chuseok vacation day 3 part 1: Guinsa temple complex

On Saturday of Chuseok we went to Guinsa, a massive temple complex in Sobaeksan National Park. It is a new temple, founded in 1945 by a smaller Buddhist sect. It is set imposingly along a narrow ravine, with the buildings--already far taller than most Buddhist temples--towering over us as we walk through it. The complex is covered with a symbol that we hadn't seen before but that I now know is called a vajra, a weapon for destroying impurities and temptations. It was everywhere, from the buildings to the bumpers of their cars to the lantern shades. There were lots of interesting buildings, inside and out, with bridges connecting some of them. I especially liked a shrine where a huge feast was set out for the major figures of the sect.

The top of the ravine had a huge golden pavilion with an equally huge statue of the temple's founder inside. There a guide gave us booklets on the sect with beautiful pictures of their temples as well as glow in the dark bracelets with vajra on them.

We went to the founder's grave on the top of the small mountain and then on around the mountain where the Lonely Planet map said there was a trail into the mountains of Sobaeksan National Park, but in fact there was not, so we went back down through the temple. A woman gave me a bag full of ricecake (dense, sticky, slightly sweet blocks of smushed rice) because it was Chuseok. The temple was decorated somewhat for the holiday, with lanterns and even giant paper bells.

Pictures of Guinsa start here.